The number of overseas students coming to Australia to undertake study has not improved since the release of a report in December last year.
The Australian Council for Education Research report outlined the decline in overseas students coming to Australia to undertake study. The report noted that Indian Student numbers had suffered the most significant drop, from 34,200 in 2007/2008 to 9750 in 2011/2012.
English language teacher Lawrence Hamilton said the reduced numbers were still evident in the classroom.
“We used to have a lot more Indian Students, Malaysian Students, Sri Lankan students: all of the subcontinent. That number has dropped dramatically and it hasn’t improved,” said Mister Hamilton.
Reasons such as changes to the migration program and growing competition from overseas providers were some of the reasons cited for the 71 per cent decrease in Indian students. The media coverage of violence against international students in Melbourne’s western suburbs is another factor.
“The Indian media is very sensationalist. Its like the Herald Sun times 50 so it’s been completely blown up.” Said Hamilton. Swinburne University Indian Interior Design student Niyati Patel agrees.
“It was really blown out of proportion by the (Indian) newspaper. I heard about it from India as opposed to hearing about it in Melbourne,” said Ms Patel.
According to a May survey conducted by the Daily Mail Australia is one of the most racially tolerant countries in the world. Yet both the Government and the Coalition propagate zero tolerance policies when it comes to asylum seekers. In the past twelve months episodes of xenophobia have led to international accusations that Australia is racist.
ABC newsreader Jeremy Fernandez was racially vilified on a bus last year, with his ensuing tweets going viral. On a different bus a French woman was threatened with having her breasts cut off for singing a song in their native tongue. This footage also went viral.
Mister Hamilton says one of the consequences of xenophobic incidents is that Indian students are forced to pretend that they are staying in at night.
“Even though they are (going out) they’ll tell their parents ‘I’m staying home’ their parents are telling them ‘don’t do this don’t do that’ because it’s perceived as dangerous,” he said.
However Ms Patel disagrees with the notion that Indian Students are at risk in Australia, suggesting that those students who were bashed had opted to live in a dangerous neighbourhood.
“I don’t find Australians as being racist towards Indians at least personally. Just don’t live in the middle of nowhere. Anyone would get bashed in the middle of nowhere,” she said.
